It doesn’t take long for Kai to end up taking a tour of the front lines area where the wolves from the North are fighting the wolves from the South in his attempt to punish the packs who’d taken Taehyung from him and hide him for several years. He’d spent the days prior to his departure holed up in his office, refusing to even think of the temptation that awaited him in his Mate’s wing of the compound, the Doctor finally giving the ok for him to see Taehyung again, though still told to not have with him.

The frustrations of not having with the alluring Omega forced Kai into an even fouler mood, refusing to even look at the Pack Omegas who were all more than willing to let Kai them into the next day, even one who had newly presented.

So instead of venting his frustrations ually, he chooses to head down to inspect the front lines, frowning as he saw the rows of injured wolves in the infirmary. “So these wolves didn’t take the tonic?” He growls at the general who’s cowering behind him.

“No sir. They claim it causes the other wolves who’ve taken it to become unstable and more violent.” The general’s nasally voice holds a quiver of fear in it. “They claim they do not want to take it in fear of becoming mindless monsters and having to face their mates when they go back home.”

Kai’s inner wolf snarls in anger at the thought. His face hardens, teeth clenching together. “Dispose of them.” He hisses at the general, not bothering to lower his voice. “Those who don’t seek to punish the wolves who took my mate and tortured him for years are not part of my pack and don’t deserve to live!” He roars out the last part, partly in anger to appease his inner wolf’s desire for bloodshed, and in order to throw some fear into the wolves refusing to obey his orders.

Some of the wolves groan in fear at the Head Alpha, others whimpering in submission as his temper grows. “If none of you will fight to protect my mate, why the are you fighting at all?” Kai continues to rage. “If you do not take the tonic, I will end your pathetic lives myself!”

He doesn’t bother to wait for the expected outcries of betrayal and denial, storming out of the infirmary with his general close behind him, spouting apologies and nonsense. Kai stops, turns, glares at the general with his most becoming blood lusted look, all red flashing eyes and snarling. “They all better have swallowed that tonic by morning, or I will kill each and every one of them who doesn’t.” Kai growls. He stalks off before the general can reply, his desire to wolf out and kill something growing harder to ignore. He stops, looking around and then darts into the woods, stripping off his clothing and placing it in a pile beside a tree before wolfing out, shaking out his fur and taking off into the woods.

**

Not everyone knew of Kai’s wolf being more bloodthirsty than normal for an Alpha, except those who knew him back before he’d taken over his parental pack, and the generals and other leaders who are at the front lines scramble to execute Kai’s orders to ensure all the wolves who can fight or will fight for the Head Alpha are taking the tonic as ordered if they hadn’t done so already.

While Kai is off in the forest, working off his wolf’s thirst for blood, the generals are gathering those who refuse to take the tonic, sectioning them into a tent on the edge of the forest where they’ll be executed later for refusing to do their duty to the Pack and for defying Head Alpha’s orders.

What they don’t realize, is that some of the wolves who refuse to take the tonic are actually spies for the Southern packs, and while the generals aren’t keen on keeping a perimeter of security around the tent of ‘deserter wolves’, one manages to slip out of the back of the tent nearest to the forest, his wolf’s coat blending in perfectly with his surroundings as he streaks off silently through the forest towards where he knows a messenger will be waiting for his report.

“They’re planning on executing the wolves who refuse to take the tonic tonight at dusk.” The wolf tells the messenger.

“Good work.” The messenger nods, frowning. “You should head back to our camp, rest up for the day. I’m sure Ravi will want to send a rescue party, but for now, let’s head back.”

The wolf nods, and they both shift back to their wolf forms.

True to the messenger’s words, Ravi is furious at the idea that Kai’s going to execute wolves who are not willing to go full wolf at the cost of their own humanity. He’s seen what the tonic does to wolves who take it, and the price is death if the tonic influenced wolf does not taste blood and the scent of a kill.

“We need to go save these wolves.” Ravi tells his fellow leaders. They are all battle weary, but willing to go as long as it takes for the Northern forces to either wear down, or die off from the tonic poisoning them slowly.

Namjoon and Yoongi are there, both having decided to take this opportunity to see if they can gain any new information on Taehyung. Both mates look weary, skinnier now than they’d been a year ago last time Ravi had seen them. “We want to go.” Namjoon volunteers.

Some of the other leaders mutter their worry, since Namjoon in human form is clumsy, but they haven’t seen Namjoon in wolf form, and so Ravi soothes their worries with promises that there will be 2 parties of rescuers, one to be a decoy in case the enemy gets wind of their coming, and the second to be the actual rescue squad.

“Are you two sure you want to do this?” Ravi asks the mates, worry in his voice.

“We’re sure.” Yoongi voices, voice gravely from disuse. The more time that goes by, the less Yoongi speaks, unless he’s with the twins. “This may be a way to get info about where our mate is.”

Ravi feels sorry for the two, knowing that he can’t do much to help them out. The other leaders behind the war refuse to waste manpower on a hunt for a mated wolf they can’t track by scent, and sending a spy into Kai’s headquarters to gather information is very reckless. They know that Kai is very assertive, and that the wolf can sniff out an enemy wolf without prompting and Ravi is unwilling to send another wolf in considering Ken is still deep within the enemy’s territory, unable to get out, and less able to send updates on things. The last they’d heard from the doctor, he was stuck making the same tonic that was now fueling the rage on the wolves that the South is fighting against on the war lines.

Namjoon knows that they are running out of time. In all his years as a psychiatric doctor, he’s never heard of mates who are separated lasting more than a couple years at the most. 9 times out of 10, the Omega of the couple would die from being separated from their mate for too long. Namjoon wasn’t sure if Taehyung could last much longer being separated from either of them, but he also had faith in Taehyung that the Omega could persevere.

Yoongi, on the other hand, was retreating into a shell more and more each day that Taehyung wasn’t back with them. It had actually been Yoongi’s idea to go to the front lines to see if they can catch any news about Taehyung.

They’re split up into the two groups, with Namjoon and Yoongi in the first group to be the decoys. They figured that the worse case scenario was both of them being caught by Kai’s wolves, or even just one of them. Kai’s the only one that would recognize the pair as being Taehyung’s mates.

**

They’d been in the woods heading towards the tent for maybe an hour before Namjoon smells Kai in the distance. “Hey, I smell someone.” He tells the appointed leader of their group. Just as the leader turns towards Namjoon, Yoongi darts past him, heading towards Kai’s scent.

“Yoongi!” Namjoon half whispers, half yells, giving their leader an apologetic look before taking off after his mate, worry flooding his senses. He knows exactly what Yoongi is thinking. If Kai is here, at the front lines, does it mean Taehyung is with him? He and Yoongi hadn’t really discussed what they’d do if Kai was down at the front lines. Namjoon worries that Yoongi’s going to try going in for the kill on Kai before getting knowledge about where Taehyung is, or if their mate is even around. Namjoon’s gut is telling him that Kai probably has Taehyung locked up somewhere so that the Omega can’t escape and come back to them.

The older shifter ignores Namjoon’s soft calls for him to stop, getting further and further from their group until they are surrounded by nothing but trees and the soft sounds of the forest around them.

Kai’s scent is getting stronger and it smells of anger, frustration, pent up lust and things that Namjoon nor Yoongi want to acknowledge. Yoongi growls, catching faint wisps of Taehyung’s scent mingled in with Kai’s. It’s old enough that the Beta slows down, waiting for Namjoon to catch up to him. “Smells faint. Tae’s not with him.” Yoongi growls, his voice rough with unshed tears and anger.

“Do we want to confront him or head back?” Namjoon asks him, his senses on overdrive due to the close proximity of Kai.

“I want to see how frustrated he looks.” Yoongi replies. “I want to know with my own two eyes that he can’t actually take Taehyung away from us forever.”

The sounds of a wolf working its frustrations out on small prey and trees greets the two mates when they sneak carefully into the wooded glen that Kai’s scent had led them to. They’d both shifted into their wolf forms to minimize sounds. The last thing they needed was a fight with the unpredictable Alpha.

They lay low in the grass, far enough from Kai that he can’t see their eyes glinting in the grass as the wolf works through some fighting forms that Namjoon recognizes as ones that Alphas who are intended to inherit Pack Alpha start learning after their wolf awakens and their ranks are revealed.

The whisper of the trees around them doesn’t detract from the way they can tell Kai is angrily going through the forms, each move punctuated by Kai muttering something that is too indistinct to hear at the distance they are observing him from. Yoongi’s contemplating getting closer to hear what the Alpha is angry about, but Namjoon pulls on his tail the moment the Beta starts to slink off to the side near the tree line of the little glen they are in. Yoongi silently snaps his jaw at Namjoon, questioning the Alpha when a low growl reaches their ears.

The rustling of Namjoon must have alerted Kai that he wasn’t alone, as Yoongi glances up to see the angry Alpha staring down at them, his human eyes already bleeding into red as his wolf takes over. “YOU!” He roars, and the power behind his wolf comes out in his voice.

‘, WE SHOULD RUN!!’ Namjoon mind links to Yoongi, panic in his voice.

The cracking of bones alerts them to Kai transforming into his wolf form, and Namjoon drops Yoongi’s tail in favor of adopting one of the defensive forms he’s learned as a Pack Alpha, nudging himself into the small space between Yoongi and Kai, protecting his Beta mate from the first attack from Kai.

Growls, barks and yips of pain fill the glen with sound as Kai rushes at the two wolves, his eyes practically glowing red as he tries to take a chunk of fur off Namjoon’s shoulder as the Alpha dodges Kai’s attack, throwing Yoongi backwards into the tree line.

Yoongi shakes off his surprise, growling as he waits for an opportunity to jump onto Kai’s back as Namjoon has him distracted, but every time Yoongi sees an opening, Kai manages to turn just in time to keep Yoongi in his field of vision as Namjoon tries to keep him away from his mate.

Yoongi’s used to Namjoon’s overprotective stances as an Alpha, especially right now since their enemy has Taehyung captive and they really would love to know where their Omega mate is being held, but the faint scent of Taehyung on Kai is enough to alert them both to the fact that Taehyung’s nowhere remotely close to the Alpha, and that they haven’t had any contact for a couple months at most.

Kai’s scent is overpowering, the stench of the anger the Alpha has is starting to cloud his judgement on attacking Namjoon, who is sporting a few nasty looking bites on his shoulder and tail when Kai slips in a hole in the ground, allowing for Namjoon to pounce on the Alpha, biting at the shifter’s neck as Yoongi comes in to push down on the hind legs and tail, effectively caging in Kai as the wolf howls loudly.

The scent reminds them both that Kai’s been unsuccessful in overriding the twin mate bites that Taehyung has, and they both feel a bit lighter about things, knowing that they will have the one thing that Kai has fought to take away from them.

Yoongi looks at Namjoon, silently pleading for the Alpha to pin Kai’s muzzle together to keep him from calling out for reinforcements. The last thing they need is for someone to come and find them. Kai’s secret would be out, since they’d heard he’d claimed Taehyung as his ‘mate’, which would spell disaster for all involved and the last thing Yoongi wants to see is Taehyung’s face if they’re brought in to be executed after being caught fighting with the Alpha.

Distracted for a split second as Namjoon goes to pin Kai’s muzzle shut, and Yoongi finds himself laying on the ground, Kai’s face mere centimeters from his face, a growl resonating in his chest and a snarl breathing hot wolf breath over Yoongi’s own muzzled face. ‘Disrespectful little er.’ Yoongi’s eyes blaze, glowing red as his anger is unlocked.

Yoongi’s learned quite a bit under Ravi’s personal tutoring in how to fight. He’d gone to the VIXX Pack Alpha a couple months after Taehyung’s kidnapping, having been kicked out of the house by Jin and Jimin as they forced the Beta to sober up after he’d gone into a month long alcohol binge, barely paying attention to how Namjoon felt, or interacting with his own son.

The Pack Alpha had laughed long and hard at the Beta, sizing him up and taunted him into trying to land a hit on his best Beta. At the time Yoongi was hung over, going through withdrawal from alcohol, and thought Ravi was taunting him.

The VIXX pack Beta bested Yoongi more times than he wants to remember, the burn of humiliation and pain still comes back to haunt Yoongi whenever he sees the other wolf. The lesson he learned during his training though, comes in handy as he presses up underneath Kai’s jaw, forcing the Alpha to cough, backing up and taking some of his weight off Yoongi.

Yoongi doesn’t let Kai out of his sight as he rolls over to land on his feet again, and they begin the circling of each other much like Kai and Namjoon had done earlier. Kai is visibly weakened by his struggles with the other Alpha, and while that knowledge should make Yoongi proud, knowing his Alpha mate could take on Kai, it also means Kai’s going to be desperate to end the match once and for all before he becomes defeated.

January was the worst month so far of 2018. 2 weeks in, I came down with a gastrointestinal bug that took me out for a couple days, only to end up a week later down with an upper respiratory infection that the doctors think was a touch of influenza B. It was bad. I slept for 2 days and lost 9 lbs because I wasn't eating or drinking enough water.

I had a great fight scene lined out, but practical application made for the worst writers block I've ever experienced. So I have to break up the fight between chapters, so next chapter will be Yoongi/Kai fighting and the aftermath of said fight. 

Who's excited for Hoseok's mixtape?! I can't wait to hear it! I'm also loving his Tweets with Hope on the street clips! 

Tell me what you think, and look forward for the next chapter, as after the fight, things are gonna get a bit crazy!